Grown-up chimpanzees need bigger space

Seven chimpanzees will move to their new home at Hangzhou Zoo before October 1 next year. They are currently sheltered in two 6-square-meter rooms for monkeys, a zoo official said.

The oldest chimpanzee is 12 years old from Beijing and the rest are from the United States, aged 4 to 7. As they grow bigger and older, the two rooms are too crowded for them, the official said.

“Two female chimpanzees have reached maturity and are ready to mate. But they have no space for reproduction. That makes us really worried,” he said.

A 3,000-square-meter compound will be built between a fish pond and the leopard house. It is about half the size of a soccer field. The compound will have sleep rooms, a nursery, a sickroom and an isolation room to prevent fighting.

The compound will be encircled by a moat, instead of a glass wall, and visitors can look at chimpanzees moving freely inside.

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